RV Residential Refrigerators

eheading wrote:
You guys all have me confused. If I accept your claim that your residential refrigerator averages about 1 amp. That is at 120 volts. Roughly, that means that at 12 volts, you will be drawing about 10 amps. That is the power consumption that is important if you are dry camped. I'm not sure what the Norcold draws of 12 volts when running on propane, but there is no doubt in my mind it is WAY less than 10 amps.

Ed Headington

Hi Ed. Yep, you got the numbers right. Hmmm, I seem to recall the average propane fridge drawing around 3/4 of an amp when the gas valve is open and about 1/4 amp when it is closed. I suppose it depends where you are and how hard the fridge is working. I would say they use about a 1/10 or less of the power a residential uses, of course it depends on the residential etc. If you are considering installing a residential and are a dry camper then consider adding 3 X 160 watt solar panels when you do the changeover. They will provide all the power your fridge needs in an average solar day assuming flat mounting, not in the shade etc. Replacing all your incandescent bulbs with LED will also go a long way to making up the power draw as well. Just for comparative purposes, we have an LCD flat screen that draws about the same power as our fridge does. LOL.

Plan to have a backup source of battery charging like a generator if you don't already have one.